Antiques dealer Richard “Kerry” O’Brien fumes that he was “falsely portrayed” in the roughly 3,700-word article that paints him as the “king” of Rathkeale Rovers, a notorious group of Irish bandits accused of swiping millions of dollars worth of pricey artifacts and rhino horns from museums, according to the Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit.

In court papers, the County Limerick man denied being involved with the Rathkeale Rovers and said his business deals as a furniture importer are above board.

Rhino horns can fetch as much as $300,000 apiece on the black market, and are highly coveted by the Vietnamese, who believe the tusk can cure cancer and its powder is the “alcoholic drink of millionaires.”

O’Brien claims in the suit that Businessweek misidentified him as the man in whose home police found four rhino horns in 2013 — when really the culprit was his nephew by the same exact name.

He claims the publication and Higginbotham “were committed to the preconceived notion that plaintiff is a criminal mastermind sans any concrete evidence” and that his reputation has suffered
because he “was convicted in the public mind without ever being given the opportunity to have his voice heard.”